Monday, June 23, 2014

‘twas one of those magickal evenings that sometimes
fall in the traveller’s lap—thousands of miles away from home one ends up in
the perfect place with exactly the right people…

to this we add a magnificent dinner—this evening
unfolded at one of the region’s top culinary addresses, Gut Purbach – and some of
the region’s (the entire nation’s) finest and most expressive wines, brought
personally by four of Burgenland’s best growers:

Kurt Feiler, from Weingut
Feiler-Artinger in Rust

Hannes Schuster, Weingut Rosi
Schuster in St Margarethen

Josef Umathum from Frauenkirchen

Roland Velich from the Moric Estate
in Großhöflein…

the New York contingent was a veritable rogues’
gallery: meself, journalist Gregory Dal Piaz, wine-director Matt Stinton from
Hearth & Terroir, PR-flack Constance Chamberlain, sommelière Sabra Lewis, EaterNY wine-laddie Levi Dalton and reporter Lauren Mowery
from the Village Voice, plus Wolfgang Ban and Stephanie Artner (these latter
two actually Burgenländer(in), perhaps the two most important people for
Austrian wine on the East Coast—Stephanie for her tireless and imaginative work
at the Austrian Trade Commission, and Wolfgang with his splendid
Michelin-starred restaurant Seasonal on W 58th St [not to mention
his involvement with gastro-pub Edi & the Wolf in Alphabet City and the
Paulaner beer-hall in the Bowery]) —plus Winemonger Imports proprietors Emily
and Stephan Schindler with their guests from California, at least one Canadian
and one Quebecoise, and the rather animated Jeanie Lea from South Korea. Surely I’ve left
somebody out…sorry!

we were hosted by the head of the regional
organisation Wein Burgenland, Christian Zechmeister, and Marie-Sophie Lodron
from the Austrian Wine Marketing Board along with chef Max Stiegl, who opened
the restaurant on what’s normally his day off. Special thanks to them!

the first cork was popped (or rather the neck of the
first Stelvin was wrung) by the Agricultural Minister for Burgenland, Andreas
Liegenfeld, the Grüner Veltliner Bergweingarten from his estate in nearby Donnerskirchen.and here I should make one important observation:
Burgenland is a different culture from the rest of Austria – a different
food-culture, a different wine-culture, and a different culture-culture for
that matter. The region was part of Hungary – German West Hungary ­– until 1921
when it became the last state added to Austria.

the cuisine of Max Stiegl at Gut Purbach retains
more than a hint of this Hungarian heritage, and highlights a factor that I
find eminently praiseworthy about modern Austrian cuisine in general: it has
two faces like the god Janus, looking both ways, steadily true to its
traditions while at the same time consistently inventive and lively…

and now to table!

the Schmalz that came with freshly baked bread at the
beginning had a spicy overtone to it that I don’t normally associate with Lower
Austrian Schmalz. And the bread came accompanied by Ajvar as well, a Serbian
relish concoction made from red bell peppers that I’d just had on my Pljeskavica for lunch at favourite Balkan resto Café Nepomuk in
the 7th District of Vienna. So we’ve already come a ways from
Schnitzeldorf…

the first of these markedly different from GVs out of
the Traisental, Kremstal, Wachau, Weinviertel, Wagram or Kamptal. More along
the profile of the Pinot types, not so citric as a young Poysdorfer, for
example; nicely textured, firm and lively.

Neuburger is a story of its own. One of the three
bastard children of old goat Roter Veltliner, in this case sired upon Señora
Silvaner, Neuburger’s got a way of meeting even the most severe culinary
challenges, like artichoke or asparagus. It’s stylistically adaptable, holds
his liquor well as a Wachau Smaragd, can be agile and deft out of the
Thermenregion, and quite delicious here in Burgenland. One highlight of the
past was a 1983 Neuburger from Hans and Anita Nittnaus in Gols that John opened
for me and Schildknecht some ten years ago… The Feiler was a picturebook
Burgenländer, lightly-spiced nut aromas, plenty of texture and pearsy fruit on
the palate; nicely strung together along an animated acid interplay.

Pannonische Kaltschale, Gazpacho
Burgenland, nice and spicy!

Moric Grüner Veltliner 2009, from a
magnum…

Umathum Rosa 2013

the nicely matured Moric is showing a kinship with the
other Burgenland GV. And here confirming that we’re not in Lower Austria any
more; that the variety in this part of the world has aromatics and textures
that are not that far off from being reminiscent of the Pinot family – and here
it blends beautifully with chardonnay, btw ­– So it was a good chance to ask
grower Roland Velich about the characteristic ‘Pfefferl’ snap that we have come
to expect from many of the Danubian Grüners. Roland explained that this was
simply an expression of unripe fruit, which had become ingrained in the
expectations of many drinkers, and really shouldn’t be considered a positive
element. Interestingly enough, I asked old pal Ludwig Neumayer, from the
Traisental in Lower Austria, about this a couple days later, found him totally
in agreement with his Burgenländer colleague.

Umathum Rosa is a cuvée, comprised of equal parts
Blaufränkisch, St Laurent and Zweigelt – saignée, a wine that always shows the
variability of the vintage; in this case almost a red wine in flavour, though
tending towards white in body. Beautiful deep pink colour, cherry and
redcurrant flavours, bright acidity and firm tannins.

as much as I adore the two Moric old vines Blaufs that
would shortly appear on the groaning board, this grape and this grower are near
and dear to my palate and heart. Hannes Schuster has a way with SL that has few
peers; Rheinisch in the Thermenregion, Schloss Gobelsburg from Kamptal, Umathum
from across the lake...

Pinot Noir’s kinky cousin, here – a grape that’s
equally frustrating to grow, demands the same soils and the same attentive
noninterventionist cellar techniques, will show a lot of pinot character while
being able to cope with an incendiary level of spice that would kill even a
Zinfandel or a Teroldego Rotaliano. ...the characteristic aromatix of Weichsel, a sharp and
sour autochthonous cherry similar to the Burgundian griotte, along with scents
of spice, dried fruit and smoked meats… here no new wood and no small wood. The
12er from young vines, around Z’dorf and St Margarethen, finely textured, and
not as lactic as many… while the magisterial 07er Zagersdorf adds the weight of
years plus a plummy sense of depth, along with a profound minerality from the
older vines digging deeper into the limestony soils. (and it’s difficult at this point to line up the wines
and the dishes exactly…)

Frogs legs……were not on the menu,
but they hopped onto the table anyway, accompanied by a gentle purée

Umathum Blaufränkisch ‘Edition 1214’
2012

Moric Blaufränkisch Lutzmannsburg
Alte Reben 2007

Umathum’s ‘1214,’ from a pure limestone soil – a rather densely
woven web of blackberry and blackcurrant and and more blackberry, aromatix of
dark cherries, ultimately rather elegant and spicy, but retaining a nice bit of
freshness. Roland Velich’s Lutz AR showed lovely depth and fine texture, rather
expansive with dark cherries and blackberries, dried plums and blackcurrants;
elegant and very long.

and then came This Little Piggy:

Whole Rack of Turopolje Pork in
Juniper Jus

not the densely-marbled Mangalitza, at home here in
the neighbourhood, but rather a leaner sort of fellow with splendid cracklings.
Turopolje is a Croatian breed of swine named for his hometown, a very ancient
bloodline and grown rather rare these days. He graced the table accompanied by
little satellite dishes of glazed onions, potatoes au gratin and chanterelles.

Umathum Blaufränkisch Kirschgarten
2004 Magnum

Moric Blaufränkisch Neckenmarkt Alte
Reben 2004 Magnumone element that characterises all the growers who are
currently putting Burgenland in the Big Picture is their methodical dedication
and consistent effort. The 2004 Blaufränkisch Kirschgarten from Josef Umathum
comes from a vineyard that Pepi replanted in Jois after painstakingly
rebuilding the only terrace in Burgenland. This took six months, and some
fifteen thousand man-hours of labour. These grapes came from the second harvest
after replanting, and though it is a wine I have never truly loved, I must
admire the way it’s developed over the course of ten years. Plenty of spice, and prominent minerality.

of course a stark contrast to this was provided by the
2004 Blaufränkisch Neckenmarkt Alte Reben from Moric. Ancient vines some eighty
years old, meagre soils and very little ‘winemaking.’ Not everybody’s cup of
tea, some prefer Roland’s meatier Lutzmannburg; rather lean with significant
elements of minerality right on the face of it, Darjeeling and cedar, black
cherries ultimately revealing a sweet core of deep fruit and a firm acidic
structure and finely interwoven tannins before singing a lovely long and
lingering sayonara…

and the dining wound down with one of those
transparent desserts that take up the whole plate but somehow go weightless
down the gullet.

Somlauer Nockerl

Feiler-Artinger Ruster Ausbruch 2006
Magnum

the wine that came with this was a meal in itself, the 2006 Ausbruch Pinot cuvée from
Feiler-Artinger. Ausbruch is the German word for a jailbreak, but in this case
refers to the outbreak of botrytis, which the proximity of Lake Neusiedl
guarantees in most vintages. Marzipan, apricot, honey, brown sugar, poached pears and
peaches and walnuts and cream—a magnificent ending to the selection of wines.

so what do we come away with?

regarding Blaufränkisch it’s become abundantly clear
that the world of wine has another great red variety on its hands. Sankt
Laurent? We’ll see – most likely he’ll remain a specialty, offering the
occasional treasure.

and everybody who’s anybody seems to have recently
given a red card to the cooper—none of the wines are so heavily burdened with
oak as they were ten or even five years previously. Growers have become far
more self-confident, and have more confidence in the validity and
expressiveness of the native material, which they no longer feel obliged to put
an international polish upon before taking it to market.— hats off, gentlemen and ladies; there’s a great deal for these winegrowers to be proud of here.